The most interesting quote that hit me about golf is the saying ”to find a man’s character, play golf with him” by an American novelist named Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse. It is in golf where we meet people, exchange ideas, discuss about anything under the sun and sometimes it is in golf where we develop long time friendship ultimately.
Back in the early 90s, I was among the pioneers in our subdivision in El Rio Vista. We were a group of young professionals finding our niche in the new environment, seeking friendship, each one feeling his way with that sense of belonging.
The newly constructed basketball court was our meeting place every weekend, by all the males in the village. It is there where we meet new faces, test and gauge each other’s character through sports.
In one of those games, I met a young man with so much passion for Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan but in actuality he plays like Charles Barkley because of his sheer size — a round mound guy who likes to play point guard. He’s a rising sportswriter of local dailies at that time using the pen name Neil O Neal or Neilwin Joseph Bravo in real life.
As the year passed and after almost every morning coffee in my place we got intrigued to a new game using a much much smaller ball. We began chasing those small white dimpled balls.
As we go on with our life as our career grows, we develop that love hate relationship with golf. He rose in the ranks of sports writing while myself concentrated on building structures. But every week at least once, we would engage ourselves in playing golf. In that way as a sort of exercise since basketball is becoming tedious and not fun anymore while in the fairways, it is the only time we have to learn and discuss what’s the latest in the grapevine. We played on foot since cart is not an option during those times.
Serious golf? Nope. We took it seriously but golf just laughed at the way we played the game. We experimented and tried our best to master the game. We differ in our golf heroes. He got hooked on this young man who’s beginning to capture the imagination of the whole golfing world with his swagger.
Thus born the moniker Monster Drive when he’ll page me in that good old Pocketbell. I choose the alias of Short Game Master in reference to my golf hero at that time, Jesper Parnavik. Nope, not the way Jesper played but the way he dressed, his colorful combination of pants, shirt and inverted rim of golf cap. NJB at that time fancied Tiger Woods that much thus the moniker. In fairness, he can really deliver those bombs especially with the helpless flat terrain of Lanang .
Fast forward 25 years later and I met again my kumpadre and first golf buddy with a reunion golf in the treacherous Apo Golf. The monster drive is still there but for his lack of familiarity of the course and practice the silent fairways of Apo was flooded by shouts of Foooooore. The sting is still there, but the accuracy needs to be addressed. Remember, Apo is “less tok, less mistake” sort of golf course. The least times you hit the tress with that “tok” sound the more chances you have in staying at the fairways.
Friendship forged by common love for golf, sportswriting and piano.
I had a reunion of sort this week with the most revered and an institution in sports writing and the guys who were the architects of the glory days of the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP). I had lunch with my idol sportswriter Al Mendoza,former Sports editor of Phil Daily Inquirer, Jake Ayson, former Sec General of NGAP and Sports columnist of PDI, and Tony Sisante, a Business Mirror columnist and NGAP’s chief architect during Sec Ermita’s time.
We shared common interest in golf, sportswriting and later on we discover our passion for music in Cagayan de Oro. As I played the piano of our hotel lobby on our last night after the PAL Interclub golf, little did I know that these guys share with me the passion for music especially around the piano. Al Mendoza gave justice in his rendition of Lennon’s classic hits while Jake Ayson’s Monalisa and Moonriver set the tone for the evening. As we drowned ourselves into the wee hours of the morning singing those timeless classics, we lost track of time when all of the other sports scribes and fellow golfers joined in the party. It is only when I noticed the uneasiness painted on the faces of the hotel lobby personnel that I stopped playing and call it a night. But the ageless Jake Ayson insisted, this won’t be the last.
We will meet again sometime before the next PAL interclub in Bacolod.
Cheers for golf and sportwriting.Cheers for the music. Cheers for the Forged friendship.
